chapter 12 secluded glade

With a resounding boom, the crowd saw Zhang Lie's body glowing blue as a translucent ball blossomed into existence around him, knocking those hunters surrounding him aside. As the crowd watched on, Zhang Lie, his entire body still encased in the sphere generated by the superior white-grub soulshard, bounced off into the distance.

Qin Xiaotian gaped in amazement: how could Zhang Lie, well known to be at the bottom of the gene leaderboard, handle such a confrontation so calmly? It looked as though he really was hiding his strength—and the soulshard that he was using didn't seem too bad, either.

"Interesting. Go on, chase him! Don't kill him too quickly, though, I want to play with him!"

Qin Xiaotian's eyes lit up as he stared at Zhang Lie's fleeing form.

His lackeys immediately raced after Zhang Lie, circulating their genetic energy for a boost to their speed. However, they had clearly underestimated Zhang Lie's capabilities.

In mid-air, Zhang Lie activated his galewolf soulshard, bouncing away even more rapidly than before. He was moving so rapidly that even Qin Xiaotian's lackeys, each of which had reached their mutated gene capacity, weren't able to catch up despite using everything they could.

"Not bad, not bad!" Surprisingly, Qin Xiaotian seemed to grow even more excited, and he pulled Wang Xiaohua with him as he joined in the chase.

The more exceptional Zhang Lie's performance, the more secrets he was hiding, and the more treasure Qin Xiaotian would be able to paw from his corpse. 

Qin Xiaotian's lackeys weren't weak, and even though they wouldn't be able to match Zhang Lie's speed in the short term, he couldn't shake them off either. In the end, they vanished out of sight from the onlookers by the settlement gates, all of whom were chattering with each other in shock.

"Have I gone blind?! That Zhang Lie actually managed to escape from Qin Xiaotian's team that easily?"

"Haha, who was the one who said that Zhang Lie was dead meat? I knew he was hiding something!"

"Surely that's a mutated-grade soulshard, at the very least? And we all thought he was useless!"

"Don't you guys think that that ball looks familiar?"

"...like a white grub core?!"

"Damn, could it be?"

"Do you think... that was the reason why that guy spent three months hunting white grubs?"

"Haha, you guys must be crazy! When have you ever heard of mutated-grade white grubs? No one has ever seen any!"

"No, I'll have to check it out for myself!"

"Heh, you fool! Don't believe everything you hear! What I'd really like to know is whether or not he can escape this time."

"You think he can make it out of Qin Xiaotian's clutches, and I'm the fool?!" Surely he wouldn't be able to escape!  

"Wanna bet?" A heavily bearded man turned to the agitated youth by his side.

The brash youth inclined his neck, refusing to back down. "What stakes?"

The bearded man chuckled. "Say, a small bet of ten thousand points?"

Ten thousand points?! That wasn't a small bet at all! The youth hesitated, causing the bearded man to snicker. 

"What, you don't even have ten thousand points?"

Of course, the youth took the bait. "You think I'm afraid of you? You're on!"

Their conversation had been loud enough, and the crowd bored enough, that the two-person bet had quickly ballooned into something that even the three large corporations of the dimensional world had a stake in.

Of course, most hunters bet that Zhang Lie would die, especially those in the know from the large corporations. They were intimately familiar with the strongest hunters of the dimensional world.

And even though Qin Xiaotian wasn't all that strong, Qin Xiao's name was known to all. He was a bossy and domineering fellow, yet one who would protect anyone in his posse. Qin Xiaotian had surely gleaned quite a few benefits from him.

Meanwhile, one and a half months ago, Zhang Lie had clearly been at the bottom of the gene leaderboard. Even if he had had a chance encounter, there was no conceivable way that his strength could exceed Qin Xiaotian's.

The dimensional world wasn't like reality; except in settlements, the rule of law didn't apply. The strong could do what they wanted. And Qin Xiaotian wasn't alone: his entire team was with him. Zhang Lie had no escape. As a result, the odds quickly tilted in Qin Xiaotian's favor, eventually settling on a hundred-to-one odds against Zhang Lie's survival.

Of course, Zhang Lie had no clue what was happening back in the settlement; otherwise, he would have bankrupted himself to join in the bet.

As he bounced through the dimensional world, Zhang Lie's eyes glinted.

The world was so large that, despite having been discovered decades ago, there were still a few mysterious regions that weren't common knowledge. And since his pursuers were still quite a distance away, Zhang Lie was, for the most part, free of any danger.

Based on his understanding of the dimensional world, there was no way he wouldn't be able to escape Qin Xiaotian's pursuit. In fact, what he was thinking of wasn't escape, but retaliation.

Qin Xiaotian's intent was clear: to chase him until his stamina gave out, and then to capture him alive. In that case, he certainly wasn't going to take it easy on them.

After travelling hundreds of kilometers, Zhang Lie's genetic energy was flagging. His pursuers grew ever closer, but Zhang Lie's face became more and more relaxed. Right in front of him was a particularly dangerous part of the dimensional world—the Night Forest.

"Stop running away, coward!" Qin Xiaotian's team shouted upon seeing Zhang Lie about to escape into the forest.

"Heh." Zhang Lie ignored their cries as he bounced inside.

The pursuers hesitated by the boundary of the forest. Behind them, Qin Xiaotian called out,

"Go on, keep chasing him! He's all but depleted of genetic energy by now, and he won't be able to go much farther."

As a result, the entire team followed him into the forest.

Zhang Lie turned back and grinned. He knew just where he would lead them.

Once within the forest, Zhang Lie had morphed his bubble into two soft, flexible whips, which he used to swing through the trees like an agile monkey. He led the hunters following him to a lake within the forest. It was fed by a waterfall, one that the hunters could clearly hear from afar.

"We're at the Moonlit Pond!" Qin Xiaotian exclaimed, glancing at Zhang Lie, who was standing right beneath the mouth of the waterfall.

He had once been to the area with his cousin Qin Xiao. It was a rather famous location within the Night Forest, and it was said that a particularly dangerous dragon-type lifeform lived within the pond.

Apparently, it was an exceedingly rare superior-grade moonlight wyrm. There had been quite a few hunters itching to hunt down such valuable prey, but no credible sightings had been reported within the last decade, and the rumors had turned into legends.

It looked as though Zhang Lie was so desperate that he had no other choice to run here, believing in a legend.

Just as Qin Xiaotian was about to order his team to surround Zhang Lie, however, he ran through the waterfall and vanished from sight.

"Hm?" Even Qin Xiaotian was amazed that Zhang Lie had prepared such a way out for himself.

"Quick, chase after him!"

Of course, no matter what Zhang Lie did, he was sure that he would catch him today. Because, just like Zhang Lie, he wanted to kill any threats before they grew into larger problems.

"Captain, it looks like there's an entrance here!" Qin Xiaotian's team quickly found a cave opening behind the waterfall.

"Enter, but be careful of any sneak attacks!"

Qin Xiaotian's team rushed into the cave. Darkness smothered them. The scout in front held one palm up, a flame by his fingertips, as he forged onward. His other hand was holding a blade.

His name was Fang Qiong, and he was the deputy captain under Qin Xiaotian. His genetic framework was high-grade and fire-attuned, and his basic and mutated gene fragments were filled to capacity. He possessed three mutated-grade soulshards, and the blade in his hand was B-grade.

After three minutes, the pursuers walked out of the cave into what seemed to be a secluded glade. Everything in the glade was tinged a royal, mysterious, purple: the grasses and plants growing from the ground, the vines hanging from trees, even the trees themselves, filled with rich and resplendent fruits.

Qin Xiaotian's sharp eyes immediately spotted a few exceedingly rare and precious herbs.

"This place is filled with treasures! Captain, we're rich!"

"Right, Captain, all this is ours!"

Wang Xiaohua, Fang Qiong, and the others had also noticed the rare plants that seemed to grow like common weeds in this hidden glade.

They had almost forgotten that they were here chasing after Zhang Lie. And they certainly didn't notice Zhang Lie, covered in some purple powder, watching them from afar up a little hill.

"Go on, laugh while you can. No matter how many herbs you pick now, you're all going to die!" Zhang Lie stared at his pursuers as though they were already nothing more than corpses. It was only then that Qin Xiaotian and the others finally noticed Zhang Lie in the distance.

In truth, it wasn't that they weren't paying attention, but that Zhang Lie, covered in purple powder, blended in too well with the surroundings.

Looking at his unconventional appearance, as well as his smile, Qin Xiaotian suddenly felt a sense of unease. He had deliberately led them inside this hidden glade, so there had to be some danger in here for them.

"Zhang Lie, your tricks are nothing in the face of absolute power! Since you've brought us here, I'll give you a clean death. Fang Qiong, get him!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Qin Xiaotian decided to kill Zhang Lie on the spot to prevent any complications from arising.

"Xiaotian, don't! I still have a few questions for him!" Wang Xiaohua pleaded, clearly intending on ferreting out some information regarding Zhang Lie's inheritance from his father.

After all, Zhang Lie's sudden growth in power made it quite clear to her that he had inherited something good. It would certainly agree with her father's hypothesis.

Just then, when Fang Qiong had only taken a half-step toward Zhang Lie and Qin Xiaotian and Wang Xiaohua were locked in dispute, a mysterious susurrus began to emanate from the cave behind them. 

Qin Xiaotian and the others immediately turned around, eyes widening in shock.